Sixteen killed in Russian coalmine blast

AT least 16 miners were killed when a methane explosion tore through a coalmine in the remote Russian Far North within the Arctic Circle, in the latest disaster to hit the country's mining industry.

Two miners were still missing after the explosion at the Vorkutinskaya mine controlled by Russian steel-making giant Severstal in the Komi region town of Vorkuta, the emergencies ministry said in a statement on Monday.

A total of 259 miners were working underground at the time, with 23 in the shaft where the explosion took place.

Five of the group in the shaft were rescued - two received treatment at the scene and three were hospitalised - with the rest either missing or dead.

"Rescue workers found 16 corpses and the fate of two more people is unknown," the emergencies ministry said in a statement on its website, adding that the explosion was caused by methane.